# island

Pronunciation: say "Y-luhnd" /ˈaɪlənd/

## Noun

1. A piece of land smaller than a continent and completely surrounded by water.
   - Simple: A piece of land with water all around it, smaller than a continent.
   - _We sailed for hours before the green island finally rose above the horizon._
   - _Thousands of tiny islands dot the warm coastal waters._
2. A free-standing counter or bench, not attached to a wall, that can be used from any side.
   - Simple: A counter or table standing on its own in the middle of a room, used from any side.
   - _The new kitchen has a marble island big enough to seat four._
   - _He spread the blueprints across the workshop island and studied them._
3. Something that stands apart, surrounded by other things very different from itself.
   - Simple: A place or thing that is very different from everything around it.
   - _Their small farm became an island of green among the new housing developments._
   - _The research lab was an island of patience in a company obsessed with quarterly profits._
4. A raised or marked strip in the middle of a road, used to guide traffic or give pedestrians a safe place to wait.
   - Simple: A raised or painted area in a road that guides traffic or gives people crossing a safe place to wait.
   - _An elderly man stood on the island, waiting for the light to change._
   - _Planners added a landscaped island to slow cars approaching the school._
6. A piece of land smaller than a continent that is only partly surrounded by water, such as a peninsula or half-island.
   - Simple: A piece of land with water around most of it but not on every side.
   - _The rocky island juts into the bay, joined to the mainland by a thin strip of sand._
   - _Locals call the long peninsula an island, though a narrow road connects it to shore._
8. The raised structure on the deck of an aircraft carrier that houses the bridge and flight control areas.
   - Simple: The tall part that rises above the flat top of an aircraft carrier, where the crew controls the ship.
   - _The carrier's island towered over the rows of parked jets._
   - _Officers directed flight operations from the island on the starboard side._
9. A circular road junction where traffic moves around a central area; a roundabout. *(dialectal, West Midlands)*
   - Simple: A round area where roads meet and cars drive around in a circle.
   - _Take the second exit off the island toward the harbor._
   - _Traffic backed up at the island during the evening rush._

## Verb

5. To cut off or isolate a place or person from others, for example by surrounding land with water.
   - Simple: To cut a place or person off from everything around it, as water does to an island.
   - _Spring floods often island the old mill, leaving it reachable only by rowboat._
   - _A stubborn pride had islanded him, and by old age he had almost no friends left._
7. To dot a surface with islands or with things resembling islands.
   - Simple: To cover a space here and there with things that look like small islands.
   - _From the plane window, she could see the gray sea below, islanded with drifting sheets of ice._
   - _Painters often island a dark canvas with scattered points of light._

## Other meanings

- (noun) An area without its own local government that lies entirely within one or more incorporated municipalities.
- (noun) A grammatical structure from which a wh-word cannot be moved without producing an ungrammatical sentence.

## Origin

From Middle English iland, from Old English īeġland, from Proto-Germanic *awjōlandą, formed from *awjō ("island, waterland, meadow") plus *landą ("land"). It is cognate with Dutch eiland and German Eiland. The silent "s" was added in the 16th century through a spelling change to the unrelated word "isle," and this modification was mistakenly carried over to iland as well.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/island (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).